Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sajjal Chakraborty was on Tuesday removed from the post nearly two years before his stint was due to end and replaced by Additional Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, Rajiv Gauba.

Chakraborty was appointed Chief Secretary by the previous JMM-led UPA government and his tenure was till December 31, 2016.

The 1980-batch IAS officer has been shifted to the Civil Aviation department as additional Chief Secretary, an official release said here.

Gauba, the new chief secretary, is a 1982-batch officer and is currently serving as additional secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. His tenure ends on August 31, 2019.

He had also served in the Union Information Technology department.

A gold medallist in Physics and ranked seventh in the Civil Services Examination, Gauba studied for a brief period in Ranchi in the mid-1960s and began his career as sub-divisional officer in Jamtara and district development commissioner in Dumka.

He has worked in the departments of Home, Defence and Finance, having experience in senior positions at policy making and programme implementation in the Central and state governments and in international organisations.

He played a key role in formulating new policy and action plan to combat Left Wing extremism.

As CEO of NATGRID, he worked to create a network for intelligence organizations to access information from different databases, the statement said.